


reflections of red

by discordiansamba



Series: abyss of memory [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-05 14:30:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14620667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discordiansamba/pseuds/discordiansamba
Summary: first: Lance attempts to bond anew with the red paladin, in the only way he knows how- by taking him to the space mall.second: The last thing she expects to encounter in the belly of a Weblum are a paladin of Voltron and a rebel Galra, but that's exactly what she finds.





	1. lance side

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a two part continuation to this series! There will be a second perspective to all of this coming sometime in the future- but I won't spoil whose it will be, I'll only say that they're not a paladin and leave it at that.

"Do you think he has like, toe beans?"

Barely sparing a glance up from what she was working on, Pidge frowned. "Who, Keith?"

"No, Zarkon." Lance told her, rolling his eyes. " _Yes_ , I mean Keith."

Now she _did_ look at him, if only to glower. "Thanks, Lance, that was a mental image I didn't need."

"You're welcome." Lance said. "But seriously, what do you think- toe beans?"

"If you're so concerned about Keith's feet, why don't _you_ ask him?" Pidge told him, hands resting on the helmet that she had been tinkering with.

Keith's helmet, in the middle of adjustments. As far as he could tell, she was working on opening up a hole at the base of it, so that he could slip that new braid of his through and not have to just cram the whole thing in there.

And he'd thought the _mullet_ was bad. Braid Keith was like, entirely next level.

"Uh, because that would be weird?" Lance told her. "Hey there Keith buddy, I know you've only known me for like, a month now what with your whole weird _magic amnesia bullshit_ and all, but do you mind if I take a quick look at the soles of your feet? Yeah, like _that'd_ go over well. I'd sound like a total freak!"

"So instead you come to me and ask about his feet." Pidge observed, arching her brows. "Because that's not weird at all."

"I didn't, I was just-!" Lance sputtered. "I was just trying to make conversation, that's all!"

"Don't worry Lance, I won't tell anyone about your foot fetish." Pidge remarked, the grin she gave him her most impish yet. "Besides, I'd be more worried about the obvious fact that two of his toes _fused together_ than I would be worried about," and did she _have_ to hold his gaze like that, "- _toe beans_."

Lance couldn't help but wince at that. She... kinda had a point there yeah, when she put it like that.

It wasn't like he'd _forgotten_ , it was damn hard to forget that Keith was like, super Galra now, it was just kind of... he tried not to think about the _how_ of it, that's all. They would never know for sure what the details were of Keith's transformation, nor how fast or how painful it had been, since the only person who could tell them didn't remember the first thing about it.

Which... all things considered? Was probably actually a good thing.

"Why are you _here_ anyways?" Pidge asked. "Aren't you usually," oh no, here come the air quotes, he hated the air quotes, "- _getting your chill on_ in the lounge around this time of day?"

"Usually." Lance told her. "Lounge is occupied."

The words sparked an instant understanding in her, one that she wouldn't have had even a month ago.

Just a month ago, they never could have imagined that walking into the lounge to find Keith fast asleep on one of the couches would be like, a regular thing. Granted, that was mostly due to the fact that just a month ago, they were all facing the gnawing dread that he was possibly _dead_ , but hey- details.

"Coran did say that adolescent Galra sleep a fair bit." Pidge observed.

Letting out a faint snort, Lance leaned back. "Can't believe Keith's like, a Galra baby."

"Adolescents aren't _babies_ , Lance." Pidge chided him. " _We're_ adolescents. Galra just spend a lot longer in that stage than humans do, what with the longer life span and all."

And that was one of the many Galra facts they'd learned that none of them wanted to dwell on, at least, not yet, so she pushed forward, away from that particular topic. "Besides, the fact that he's willing to fall asleep out in the open like that means he's comfortable with us."

"You ever think like... he's actually _more_ comfortable with us than pre-amnesia Keith?" Lance asked.

She actually seemed to consider the question, for a change. "Maybe? I mean, I don't think pre-amnesia Keith _hated_ us, but he didn't exactly spend a whole lot of time hanging out with us."

"Yeah, it's weird." Lance observed. "He actually like... seeks us out now, sometimes?"

The first time Keith had crept up on him- and he was sticking to that description, Galra Keith was quiet as hell when he moved, damn Marmora training- he thought he'd come to pick a fight. But no, all he'd wanted was to see what it was that he was up to.

It made sense, he guessed- Keith didn't know any of them, not anymore. Of course you'd want to try and learn about people you were told that you'd known in the past, however reluctant he was to hear any details regarding himself.

It was just... Keith didn't do that. Or well, he _hadn't_.

But _Kethe_? Kethe was a whole new ball game.

And that was the weirdest part of all this. Not the fact that Keith had sprouted fur, or grown a tail, or, as he had found out with no small degree of amusement, could _purr_ \- but the fact that he kind of both was and _wasn't_ Keith.

Like, he was Keith. There was no debating that.

But he also... kind of _wasn't_? Kethe and Keith were like, incredibly similar, appearances aside, to the point where trying to act like they were different people was a stretch but... there were differences.

Some of them were subtle, like the shape of his bayard. Others were more pronounced, like the way he would actively seek out company from time to time instead of spending most of his time either on the training deck, or with Shiro.

Guess living as another person for several months would do that to a guy. It wasn't like the Blade of Marmora had given him a new past or anything like that- but just the general lack of _having_ one was enough to make an impact. He wasn't going to claim that he knew enough about how the human (Galra?) brain worked to know exactly how, but even _he_ knew that memories were kind of fundamental in shaping a person.

So without them... yeah, changes were bound to happen.

That said, he knew like, jack and shit about Keith's past. The first time he'd met him, it was when he'd _crushed_ his sim scores at the Garrison, claiming the number one spot. At the time he'd thought that he was a smug little bastard, all aloof and distant, pretending not to care.

In hindsight, he realized he'd probably been like, thinking about what he was going to have for dinner or something. He didn't know. He definitely hadn't been _mocking_ him, at any rate.

Shiro probably knew, but it was like... weird to ask about someone's past when even _they_ didn't know about it- or even seemed to really _want_ to know about it. Because honestly? He kind of didn't.

Keith like... never asked.

He'd kind of expected him to sort of... start doing that, after the one time he'd seen himself, but it had never come up. Maybe he was just waiting for the right moment, or maybe he just wasn't ready for that line of questioning yet... but it was weird. If he'd been the one to lose his memories, he'd definitely want to know what he'd been like.

Then again, if he'd lost his memories, he'd still be _human_. From what little he managed to gather from Coran's explanation, the only reason the witch had been able to do this to Keith was because he already had Galra blood in the first place.

So that was... that was a whole new ball in play, he guessed. Maybe Keith just stunk at juggling.

"I mean sure, it's kind of weird." Pidge's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "But not like, _bad_ weird, right?"

Considering the question, Lance frowned. "Nah. Definitely not bad weird."

"Although," Lance added, "-it is kind of weird how he like... remembers basically _nothing_ about Earth. I mean, maybe he wasn't that up to speed on his pop culture, but even pre-amnesia Keith knew what a _cow_ was."

Pidge let out a faint bubble of laughter at that, clearly recalling the red paladin's first introduction to Kaltenecker. He'd tried talking to it, and had been visibly embarrassed when he'd been informed that it was an animal, and therefore, couldn't understand him.

"True." Pidge admitted, turning over Keith's helmet in her hands, giving it a slight frown. "But there's only so much we can teach him about it when we're in the middle of space. All we have is the stuff we brought from Earth, and like, the video game console we bought at the-"

She froze.

Lance blinked- then _grinned_. "...you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Space mall?" Pidge asked.

" _Space mall_."

* * *

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when Lance swooped into the room, but it probably wasn't this.

"Please Shiro, you _have_ to let us go back to the space mall." He'd said, clasping his hands together, as if in prayer.

"...space mall." Shiro repeated.

"Yeah, the uh- the Unilu swap moon or whatever Coran called it." Lance told him. "Which, by the way- totally just a space mall."

Well at least now he understood what it was that he was talking about, if not _why_ he suddenly wanted to go there out of the blue. He hadn't gone with them on their last trip- he'd been kind of busy fighting Zarkon on the astral plane- but from what he understood, their last trip there had been... _interesting_.

They'd come back with a cow, for starters.

"So what is it that you need at this... space mall?" Shiro asked.

"Oh, it's not about what _I_ need." Lance told him, placing a hand over his chest. "It's about what _Keith_ needs."

Lance.

Thinking about _Keith_.

This had to be some sort of trick.

"Keith." Shiro repeated, arching a brow.

"Uh, yeah, Keith. You know, tall, purple, and fuzzy?" Lance told him, before heaving a sigh. "Look Shiro, you know just as well as I do that his head's like this freaky void, so I'm just thinking about what I can do to help our most favorite space cat."

"Space cat." Shiro repeated- _again_.

"Yeah, yeah, space cat, try and stay with me here Shiro." Lance told him. "You know what they have at the space mall? They have an _Earth store_ at the space mall. And you know what Keith doesn't have?"

"Basic common sense about the planet he was born on, that's what." Lance finished.

Okay, now they were getting somewhere.

"So you want to take Keith to this... Earth store?" Shiro ventured.

"Yes, yes that is exactly what I want." Lance told him. "Please, Shiro?"

Considering the question for the span of a moment, Shiro eventually let out a short sigh. He did kind of have a point. "As long as Keith agrees to it, you can go."

Pumping his fists, Lance grinned. "Yes! Thank you Shiro, I'll go talk to Keith right-!"

Then he paused, almost seeming to think better of it.

Ah, he knew what that meant.

"Where is he this time?" Shiro asked. "Not on the training deck again, I hope."

He could understand why that kept happening- Keith had always been good at ignoring his body's own signs of exhaustion, so it came as no surprise to him that this hadn't changed in the least.

"Conked out in the lounge." Lance reported. "He's actually _wearing_ his jacket this time, so it's not like he conked out on the training deck and Hunk just found him and brought him to the lounge."

Satisfied with that, Shiro gave him a nod of his head. "Just remember Lance- if Keith says he doesn't want to, that's the end of it. We all need to let him find his comfort zone here."

Though given Keith's general curiosity regarding all things Earth... he kind of doubted he'd say no.

* * *

"Space... mall?"

The confused tilt of Keith's head was hard to miss, Lance thought. "Yeah, you know- a swap moon?"

"I... don't know what that is either." Keith confessed after a moment, his tail swaying behind him. "But you want me to come with you to this... this _swap mall_?"

"Uh yeah, that's about it. You, me, Hunk and Pidge." Lance told him, wondering how he could have possibly come out of that with a third, completely new name for the place. "Like, you don't have to come if you don't want to, dude, that's not the way we do things around here."

"No, I mean, I-" Keith began, before frowning, almost seeming to draw in on himself for a moment. "Are you sure you want _me_ to come?"

And nope, he wasn't having that.

Listen, maybe he wasn't the most knowledgeable guy around, but even he could tell that Keith was living through like... the worst existential crisis he had ever witnessed. But the least the guy could do was give them a little more credit- none of them were going to abandon him just because he'd come back to them being a little fluffier than they remembered.

"Uh, duh?" Lance told him. "This whole trip is kind of _for_ you, so... yeah, I'd say we want you to come."

"For me?" Keith asked, perking up at that.

"Yeah, like- there's this Earth store at the space mall, that sells like, all this stuff from Earth." Lance told him. "Well, I mean it's all kind of outdated stuff, like you should have _seen_ what the alien dude in charge of it was wearing, I swear his fashion sense was worse than _yours_ -"

His words earned him a snarl, but he pressed on, knowing damn well by now that nothing would come of that.

Unless they were on the training deck. All bets were off if they were on the training deck.

"So anyways, Earth store." Lance told him. "Since like, you're always super curious about Earth stuff, we thought you might want to go. But if you don't want to then-"

"Okay."

"-then that's okay, I totally under-"

"I said _okay_ , Lance."

"You sure?" Lance asked.

"I wouldn't have agreed to it if I wasn't sure." Keith told him. "So yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay, well, glad to hear it buddy." Lance said. "I can talk it over with Coran, set a date."

"Sounds like a plan." Keith told him, before pausing. "So is that where you got the cow?"

"Yup!" Lance told him, nodding his head. "She was free with purchase."

* * *

Oh space mall, how he had missed you so.

Sure, the last time he had been here, it had ended in unexpected head trauma, but hey- he wasn't about to hold that against it.

"Alright you four," ah there it was, Shiro's most authoritative tone, "-a few ground rules first."

His loud groan was totally ignored, Shiro pressing on. He sort of tuned out what he was saying- except for the last part, only making out the very tail end of it. "-and no more farm animals."

"Aw shucks, Shiro, I was hoping to bring home a chicken this time." Lance told him- and though he was clearly joking, he couldn't help but flinch a little underneath Shiro's gaze. "Alright, alright, no more farm animals, I got it."

"And Hunk?" Shiro spared a glance over towards the yellow paladin. "Try not to get captured by food court employees this time."

"I will do my utmost best." Hunk told him, giving him a surprisingly honest salute.

Keith, for his part, watched them with a curious expression, almost as if he wanted to ask, but somehow thought he wasn't prepared for the answer. It was different than the expression that he wore whenever they skirted a bit too close to discussing his _before_ \- he wasn't _afraid_ of the answer, so much as he seemed to have already accepted that it wouldn't explain shit.

Which was fair. Their last trip to the space mall had been a wild time.

Lecture over, Shiro left them to their own devices- Coran had given him a list of things that he thought they needed around the castle-ship. They had about an hour of free time before they were supposed to meet up in front of the clock, which was more than enough.

"Keith, my buddy, my pal," Lance began, grabbing him by the shoulders, "-are you ready to get your first real taste of Earth culture?"

Tilting his head, Keith's brows furrowed, almost looking hesitant. "...I guess?"

"That'll do." Lance told him, giving his shoulders a pat, before finally releasing the Galra from his grasp. "Now, onwards to the Earth store!"

"To the Earth store!" Pidge and Hunk echoed.

There was a pause, a beat if you would.

"...to the Earth store?" Keith hesitantly repeated, uncertain. "Was... was I supposed to say that with you guys?"

Ah yes, Lance thought to himself. Some things truly never changed.

(He still thought the chant went I say _Vol_ , you say _Voltron_.)

* * *

For someone that they had knocked over with a cow, the Earth store sales-alien sure did seem happy to see them. Guess he must have been serious when he said he never sold anything.

If he had anything to say about the Galra that was currently pawing through his merchandise, he kept it to himself. Which... come to think of it, aside from Varkon and that Sal guy that had chained Hunk to a sink, there didn't seem to be an awful lot of Galra hanging around the space mall.

Which was _probably_ a good thing? They might actually _need_ Keith's knife then.

Which... yeah, he'd totally brought with him. To the space mall, which was like, really low on the list of places he might need to stab someone.

As near as Lance could guess, it was the one he'd brought from Earth. It looked like, virtually identical to the one the Blade of Marmora had given him, but one could transform, and the other couldn't, so he kept the one that couldn't with his civilian clothing. The other he took with him when he left to run missions for the Blade of Marmora.

Which was... a thing.

He still didn't quite know what to make of the idea that Keith had gone and joined a super secret Galra spy ring during his absence. On one hand, the whole concept of a super secret Galra spy ring working from within the ranks of the Galra Empire to overthrow it was like, _super cool_.

On the other hand... it was eerie, almost, the way he blended in with them.

He'd gone with Shiro to the Blade of Marmora base, he'd _seen_ Keith with them. Before his name had been called, he hadn't even thought twice about the one Galra that was shorter than the rest.

And sure, one could argue that was like, before he knew the truth. But it hadn't been the _only_ time. Planet Puig? He hadn't even noticed that Keith was a part of the ground forces until _after_ they returned from the mission.

He had been there, on the same planet with them, and he had never so much as left the Blade of Marmora's side.

_Knowledge or death_ , some part of him whispered, wondering how much Keith followed that same creed himself now.

And then he shook the thought off. No, nope, no sir- he had come to the space mall to have a good time, he was not about to get bogged down thinking about things like that. Time to think about something- _anything_ \- else.

Thank god he quickly found one.

Or had one like, thrust into his face, bless Keith's Galra heart (and it was a _Galra_ heart, now, and he didn't even want to think about what kind of transformation _that_ had involved). "What's this?"

"Ooh, lava lamp." Lance said, taking it from him. "Totally retro."

"There's lava in there?" Keith asked, for a moment, almost seeming alarmed. His fur even _bristled_.

Totally a giant space cat.

(Why, oh why, was he only missing the fluffy ears? Why was God so cruel?)

"I- what, you don't know what a _cow_ is, but you know what _lava_ is?" Lance asked, looking incredulous.

"Lava exists on other planets, Lance." Pidge supplied, barely even sparing him a second glance as she busied herself with rifling through a box of assorted game cartridges. "Volcanoes aren't exactly an Earth isolated phenomena."

"Hm, fair point." Lance admitted. "And no, it's not like, _actual_ lava, it's just... it's just called that, that's all."

"Oh." Keith seemed to blink, fur that had been raised in alarm settling back down. "Why?"

"Uh..." Trailing off, he realized that he had no idea. "I don't... I don't know?"

For the span of a moment, Keith's expression was next to unreadable- before he made a slight hum, taking the lava lamp back from Lance. It seemed like he'd figured something out, but felt no need to share whatever it was with the class.

Which was like, so Keith.

"You gonna buy that, buddy?" Lance asked, before pausing. "Wait, do you even have money?"

"Kolivan gave me some." Keith told him, turning the lava lamp over in his hands, his claws lightly clicking against its surface.

"What, like an allowance?" Lance joked.

"A what?" Keith blinked, glancing down at him.

(He was _never_ going to get used to Keith being taller than him.)

"I- you know what, nevermind." Lance told him. "Your room could use some decor anyways."

It seriously could. If there was one thing that he had noticed during Keith's absence, it was how empty his room was compared to the rest. Even _Shiro_ , who hadn't accumulated much in the way of personal effects, at least had a few items of note, but Keith?

Keith had his clothes and his knife, and that was it.

Even his shack on Earth had been weirdly devoid of any personal effects. Sure yeah, it had been _cluttered_ \- but there was nothing really personal, nothing to give it that human touch.

When he had left the Garrison, he'd done so with nothing more than the clothes on his back, and the knife at his waist. As if somehow, the latter was the only thing that he had of value.

It was like he could just up and leave behind his whole life at the drop of a hat. And from what little he understood about Keith Kogane- he probably could.

Hell, he _had_. Even Shiro, steadfast and stalwart, would sometimes let it slip that he missed Earth. But Keith? It was like homesickness was a foreign concept to him, something which he could fathom in others, but never truly understand.

So Keith- _Kethe_?- actually wanting to have anything in the way of personal effects was... a good thing, right?

Maybe it meant that he wasn't going to leave, go back to the Blades at the first chance he got.

...okay, wow. He didn't even know he had been worried about that, until like, right this second. Sure, he hadn't actually _hated_ Keith since like, the food fight, but they'd never exactly gotten super close- but... yeah.

He kind of didn't want him to leave.

Not again, not after he'd just come back.

Sure, he'd come back to them purple and fluffy, but he'd _come back_.

He hadn't thought he would. He'd thought... he'd thought for the longest time that he was _dead_ , that the reason they never found him no matter how hard they looked was because he wasn't there to find, not anymore.

He should have tried harder to stop him from going through that door, to keep him from going after that druid. He had a chance to stop him, and he'd barely done _anything_. He didn't care what Shiro said- if he was dead, it would have been his fault.

But he was alive.

Oh thank god, he was _alive_.

It hadn't... he would have thought it would have hit him long before this, and it had, kind of? Back in the kitchen, when he had first stumbled across the Galra with Keith's face, it had been like seeing a ghost.

But the fact that he was actually _alive_ , somehow... somehow it had managed not to hit him until this exact moment.

He hadn't gotten his rival- his _friend_ \- killed.

"Lance?" Hunk's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "You okay dude?"

"I-" Lance blinked. "I- yeah, I'm fine Hunk. Just... just got lost in my own thoughts for a second there."

"So what," Keith barely even spared him a glance, too busy trying to decide if he wanted the red or the purple lava lamp, as if it made any difference, "-you had more than one thought?"

"Wow, Keith. _Wow_."

* * *

He bought both lava lamps.

There was probably some kind of symbolism in that, but damned if he knew what it meant. Literature had never been his best subject.

Besides, it was symbolism revolving around _lava lamps_ , so who cared.

(He did. He cared a lot. Damn you, Keith Kogane.)


	2. acxa side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She had been zoning in and out of consciousness, when the sound of something loud impacting with her ship drew her out of it. It was impossible to say how long she had been there- not only had her ship's communications been damaged, but so had any form of keeping track of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wonder who guessed right about who the next perspective would belong to? This chapter covers the bulk of their encounters in season three, and ends there, leaving, of course, room for me to tinker with this verse in season four as I please in the future, should I choose to. Which I probably will, at some point. So as always, thanks for reading!

Getting stuck in a Weblum had not been in her plans.

Going _into_ a Weblum? Yes. Getting stuck there? No.

She had been zoning in and out of consciousness, when the sound of something loud impacting with her ship drew her out of it. It was impossible to say how long she had been there- not only had her ship's communications been damaged, but so had any form of keeping track of time.

The last thing she expected to come across here, in the belly of a Weblum, was another person. Yet that was exactly what had impacted with her ship- as she fluttered back into consciousness, she watched as the figure, clad in black armor unlike any she had seen before, took notice of her in the same way she did them.

In a thought process that seemed to take all of two seconds, the black clad figure reached behind its back, drawing a knife. Any surprise that she might have shown upon witnessing its transformation into a sword was safely concealed by the darkened tint of her enclosed helmet, much in the same way the stranger's face was concealed by a mask. The glowing eye holes, starkly purple against the black, gave it something of an eerie appearance.

"Don't move." The stranger's words were just loud enough for her to hear through her ship, and a second later, the sword was shoved into her cockpit, tearing away at it, cutting her free.

She didn't know who her savior was, but she clearly owed them her thanks.

The hand that was offered to her was clawed underneath their armor, she noted, taking it in her own. She barely had time to dwell on it, when she found herself being spun around, her blaster taken from her before she so much as had a chance to react.

Gritting her teeth, Acxa watched them, now fully on guard. It was her fault that she had lowered it to that extent, but she hadn't expected the same stranger who had just helped her to turn on her so suddenly.

"You're with the empire."

Ah, there it was. Holding up her hands, she narrowed her eyes, trying to gauge what their next move would be. There was malice in those words, carried past the vocal distortion that their mask seemed to give them.

The turn of phrase was an interesting one- most would simply observe her to be Galra. Gaze flickering downwards for a brief span, she took note of their tail, lavender fur bristled in alarm.

Was this stranger Galra themselves? Clearly not one loyal to the empire, if so.

Prince Lotor would be _very_ interested to hear that.

Provided she got out of here alive.

She didn't have long to dwell on the stranger, nor their allegiances. Judging from the way they spoke about the strange creatures that burst through the way he had come- _not_ _ **those**_ _things again_ \- they were likely nothing good. Pushing aside any other thoughts, she quickly chose a course of action, wasting no time in carrying it out.

Her ship was dead weight anyways, damaged and caught in the Weblum's tendrils as it was. As long as she could manage to escape the Weblum, she could get back into contact with the other generals by using the emergency distress beacon located in her own armor. She was unable to use it here- there was too much interference provided by the beast itself.

She made no move to speak to the stranger, no move to tell them her plan- the less she told them, the better.

Still, the meaning of her actions didn't fail to register with them. "You're turning this ship into a bomb?"

Leaping from the ship, she let her boosters carry her away from it- though not far enough quick enough to save her from the full force of the blast, sending her hurtling deeper into some other part of the Weblum. She couldn't help but wonder how it was that this job had fallen unto her- though she didn't doubt Prince Lotor needed the scaultrite for something important, the act of collecting it was even more vile than she had anticipated.

Quickly regaining her senses, she caught sight of three of the creatures out of the corner of her eye- clearly the blast hadn't taken them all out. On her feet before the stranger could recover, she rushed them, reclaiming her gun.

They took it as a hostile action, hand darting back to grip the sword- now once more a knife- that they had sheathed just before leaping off the ship. She paid it no mind, instead fixed on taking out the remaining creatures.

It took the stranger a span of a moment to understand that _they_ were not the one under attack. Hand dropping away from their blade, she felt wary eyes on her from underneath their mask. "...I guess you can keep your weapon."

As if she would allow it to be taken from her again.

Half snorting to herself, she holstered her blaster. Even if she couldn't see their face, their tail was like a gateway to their emotional state. In the empire, most of those born with tails would have had them docked at an early age- they would leave them too vulnerable as they grew older, so it was best to remove them while they could still adapt.

A child, she thought to herself. If they weren't a hybrid like herself, then they must have been a child.

The height alone was enough of an indicator. She was no towering giant herself, but the petite stature of the black clad figure could only be explained by three things- they were either a hybrid, a child, or had stunted their growth somehow.

Based upon how transparently their tail reflected their emotions, she was banking on _child_.

A child that appeared to be here for the same reasons she was. It only took her a moment to garner that they were looking for the third stomach, just as she was. Though she wanted to interject at multiple points, she kept her lips sealed- right now, they did not seem to suspect they shared the same mission- instead making their way to it through trial and error.

She did not expect to find someone already there, waiting for them.

Or, to be more exact, waiting for her companion.

They were _not_ Galra- unlike her own, their face was visible through their helmet, so she could tell that much right away. She tried and failed to place their planet of origin, which in and of itself, was worthy of note.

The Galra Empire was vast- but there were still pockets of free space, to which it had not yet spread. This alien, she thought, must have come from one of those worlds.

"Kethe!" The yellow clad one almost seemed relieved, which was noteworthy in and of itself. "You made it! We both made it!"

The black clad figure- _Kethe_ , she now knew his name was- allowed his tail to perk up at the sight of the yellow one.

Who then took notice of her.

"Who's your friend?"

"They're _not_ my friend." Kethe hissed, fur on his tail bristling once more, and she could feel their gaze upon her. "They're _empire_."

Even with the vocal distortion in place, mistrust was clear on his voice. Very much not with the empire, then.

The pair fell into hushed tones then, and she watched them with mild interest. If Kethe was against the empire, it was likely to conclude that the same could be said of the yellow one- whose name appeared to be _Hunk_ , from what she could overhear. Still, rebel or not, Kethe had saved her- and she was not about to repay the favor by doing something as crass as killing him, or his companion, the first chance that she got.

Besides, the three of them appeared to have a mutual goal- collecting scaultrite. If she worked together with them, she could accomplish her mission far easier and far faster than she would have alone.

Still, the presence of a Galra who spoke about the empire in such hostile tones was worthy of note. There had been whispers, rumors, that there was some kind of resistance within the ranks of the empire itself for a long time now. Most thought of it as a myth- the kind of story parents told their children at night, to give them a fright.

Perhaps it was not so much of a myth as first thought.

As for the yellow one... it was faint, but she knew there had been no mistaking what she had heard. The words _paladin_ and _Voltron_ had come up- and she was now beginning to understand that she was in the presence of one of the paladins of Voltron.

He was... _underwhelming_ , if she had to be honest.

She'd expected... she was uncertain as to _what_ , but perhaps something a little more than this, than some unknown race that was barely taller than the Galra child he was with.

They seemed to conclude that since she hadn't attacked them yet, it was safe to let her be. It was naive, truly, but they were correct in that she planned to do them no harm.

Needless bloodshed might be the way of the _rest_ of the Galra Empire, but it was _not_ Prince Lotor's way.

So when it did come time for her to betray them, she did nothing more than level her blaster at the child's head, holding it there long enough to take a bag of scaultrite for herself. He made no move to pursue her- likely prioritizing the overall success of his own mission over her.

Which was fine by her. She'd already wasted enough time in accomplishing her mission- the faster she could get back to Lotor and the others, the better.

* * *

That she had destroyed her ship and gotten stranded in the Weblum was not news that pleased the prince. She fully expected this, and had been prepared for it- he expected the most out of his generals, so any failure was treated harshly.

He did, however, look pleased that in spite of her mishaps, she had completed her mission. Turning over some of the scaultrite in his hands, he gazed at it with an expression that was nigh impossible for even her to read, other than it being one of interest.

The prince had many interests.

"I sense there is something more that you wish to tell me." Lotor observed, finally sparing her a glance. "I must say, I am rather interested to know where you acquired this storage device. It is not one of ours."

"I was not alone in the Weblum." Acxa told him, seeing no reason to mince words. "I encountered two individuals who I believe would be of interest to you, Lotor."

"Oh?" Inclining his brows, he took an apparent interest in her words, setting aside the scaultrite. "Then by all means, do tell."

"You are correct that the storage device is not one of ours." She began. "I believe it belongs to the paladins of Voltron."

Now that truly caught his interest, the prince leaning forward. "Now that _is_ of great interest to me. Do you mean to say that you met them? Two of the paladins?"

"Only one." Acxa told him. "Judging from his armor, I believe he was the yellow paladin. He appears to go by the name _Hunk_ , but I'm afraid I must confess I do not know what species he was. None that I've seen before."

"The yellow paladin." Lotor mused, leaning back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "And what of the other? You said you encountered two individuals in the Weblum."

"I believe the other was Galra, by the name of _Kethe_." Acxa told him. "Wearing armor the likes I have never seen before. He did not take kindly to me once he learned that I was with the empire."

Arching his brows, Lotor took that to mean exactly what she thought he would- that the whispers of there being some kind of resistance within the Galra ranks was more than mere rumor. To her, it would seem that her words confirmed something he had long since suspected.

The prince shared very little of his own thoughts with them.

"And yet they let you live?" Lotor inquired.

"Yes. I likely would not be here, if not for the Galra rebel." Acxa informed him. "He freed me from my damaged ship."

"Before he knew you were with the empire, I take it?" Lotor observed.

"Yes." Giving him a curt nod of her head, Acxa frowned. "I apologize for making no move to detain either of them, but I thought it best I complete my mission first and foremost."

"There is no need for that." Lotor told her, rising to his feet. "Just the knowledge you have brought me has value in and of itself. You say they were also collecting scaultrite?"

"A vast amount of it." Acxa said. "What do you think they plan to use it for?"

"That I cannot say." Lotor admitted. "But it would seem that things might become _very_ interesting in the near future. Perhaps we may even find ourselves called back to Central Command, if all goes well."

Lifting her brows, she did not miss the unspoken undertone to his words- by _if all goes well_ , he surely meant, _should the paladins' plan succeed_. There was much that she did not understand about Prince Lotor and his motivations, but if there was one thing that she knew for a fact, it was that he was tired of his father's iron grip on the throne.

And that he'd been tired for a very long time now.

His father's defeat, she sensed, was something he very much desired.

* * *

Just as Lotor predicted, it was not long before they found themselves back at Central Command.

_Emperor pro tem_ of the Galra Empire, though she knew that he sought more. Without the Kral Zera, he would be unable to assume full control of the empire, but the fact that he had been called to serve in place of his father meant that likely, Emperor Zarkon was not yet dead, merely incapacitated.

That Voltron had managed to do even _that_ caught Lotor's interest, in a way that could not be missed. So it came as no surprise to her- nor any of her fellow generals, when he expressed an interest in learning more about them for himself.

"There is something I wish to confirm for myself."

He said no more than that, but it was with those words that a plan was set in motion. Taking back two of the planets freed of Galra control by the paladins was a simple matter, and drawing them out was an even simpler one.

They split their forces, forcing Voltron to do very much the same. While she remained by Lotor's side, alongside Zethrid, Narti and Ezor had been tasked with taking on a separate quadrant. They would record their findings, and present them back to Lotor once they regrouped.

"Now remember, we merely intend to observe for today." Lotor told them. "There is something I yet need the paladins for, so it would be a shame if we were to defeat them here and now."

Zethrid grumbled at it, as she always did when denied using the sort of force she wished. She merely watched, gaze fixed on the trio of lions doing battle with their fighters. Blue, yellow, and _red_.

Lotor, she noticed, had seemed very pleased to see the red lion.

He split his attention well, her prince. One part was fixed on the battle raging outside, and the other fixed on the screen before him. Her gaze flickering down towards it, she noted that it seemed to be playing recovered footage from another one of Voltron's battles- from when they had taken back Olkarion, if she wasn't mistaken.

He seemed to have a very express interest in the red lion.

She would have thought for sure that the lion that would have caught his interest would be the _black_ one. It was the one his father had piloted in the past- before the war with Altea began, before the black lion had been hidden from him.

"What is it that interests you so?" She found herself asking.

"Do you not see it?" Lotor asked, looking quite pleased with himself. "Whoever is piloting the red lion in this footage is clearly not the same person that is piloting it now."

Frowning, she studied the footage playing on the screen, before turning her attention back towards the battle. With her attention focused on it, she could tell that indeed, its movements were different, more natural, more _instinctive_ , one might say.

"Could they not have simply improved?" She asked.

"No, I do not believe this is a matter of mere improvement." Lotor told her, leaning back in his chair, seeming satisfied. "Zethrid, I think we've gathered enough data for one day. Time to retreat."

Her fellow general grumbled, doing nothing to mask her displeasure. Still, she did as he said, turning the ship around and making a jump into hyperspeed before the lions could pursue.

"You believe the pilot of the red lion was replaced." Acxa observed.

"Oh no, not replaced." Lotor told her, bringing up another screen, this time with new footage. A Balmera, she recognized, watching as the screen once more focused in on the red lion.

Narrowing her eyes, she watched the footage play out, glancing between it, and the footage taken from Olkarion. Not only were the movements in the former different from the latter, but they more closely matched those of the red lion in the most recent battle.

"Now, looking between these three, which would you say was the odd one out?" Lotor inquired.

"The second." She replied, a tight frown on her lips. "This battle on the Balmera, and the battle just now... the same person was piloting the red lion both times."

"Indeed." Lotor told her, lifting his brows. "Which begs the question- why was someone _else_ piloting the red lion in the middle?"

She didn't have an answer to that.

* * *

She found her answer, in the most unexpected of places.

The mission was not one in which she expected much interference- certainly not from the paladins of Voltron. She _certainly_ hadn't expected to find them on their ship, in the hangar bay where they kept the fighter that Lotor had constructed using the comet's ore, at that.

Yet here they were, all lined up. Black, blue, yellow, green, and _red_.

It was Lotor's interest in the red paladin that drew her attention towards him, barely so much as skimming over the rest. She didn't need to take a close look to recognize that they were all of the same species- _humans_ , she had since learned they were called.

But among their number, there was one that didn't fit.

When she met his eyes, blaster locked into position by the back of their sword, she looked back into those of a Galra. More so even than her own, for his were devoid of pupil, glowing softly in the dim light of the hangar.

The red paladin, she realized, was _Galra_.

Their clash was broken by Ezor, and their targets changed. She did not, however, miss the flash of surprise on her fellow general's face as she recognized the same thing she did.

She found herself keeping half an eye on the Galra paladin, there being something else about him that seemed to bother her. Perhaps it was the height. He had the height of a juvenile, but his facial features were too defined to be that of one- a hybrid then, of some type, though one more visibly Galra than herself.

Or any of her fellow generals, for that matter.

It wasn't until she caught sight of his tail, fur bristled and raised, that she made the connection.

This was the Galra from the Weblum.

Indeed, the closer she looked, the more it became obvious they were the same. The armor they were clad in was as different as night and day- trading black armor made for stealth for the white and red armor of a paladin. But it was not merely the tail- the braid of black hair, looped around his neck to prevent it from becoming a hazard, was very much the same.

The red paladin was Galra.

The red paladin was with the Blade of Marmora.

Faintly, she heard someone call out a name- _Keith_ , the black paladin had said, and she watched as the red one responded to it. For the span of a moment, she wondered if he had merely mispronounced his name, before she dismissed that possibility.

The black paladin was the _Champion_ , the former gladiator who had spent a year in the empire's custody before escaping. She doubted that he would make such an error.

Lotor, she decided, would be very interested in this.

* * *

She was starting to think that the rebel Galra was a bad omen.

Kethe, _Keith_ , whichever was truly his name- both times she had met the red paladin face to face, she'd failed. She had braced herself for Lotor's disappointment in her, but the impact was all the same.

It was Ezor who let the bit about there being a Galra paladin slip first.

"Really now?" Lotor asked, taking an apparent interest. "Which color?"

"Red." Acxa supplied. "And he is the same Galra I met in the Weblum."

"You are certain of this?" Lotor asked.

"Certain." She told him, giving him a firm nod of her head. "Though he was wearing the Blade of Marmora's armor then, his build is the same."

"So the red paladin is a member of the Blade of Marmora." Lotor observed. "It still does not explain where he went."

Nor why he had been clad not in the red paladin's armor at the time, but in that of the Blade of Marmora. The former would have been a much better choice for the Weblum than the latter, Acxa noted.

She didn't need to voice such concerns aloud, for she knew Lotor had likely already thought of them himself.

"Is there more footage from the Balmera?" Acxa questioned, unsure what prompted her to ask. "According to the records I read, Commander Prorok attempted to spring a trap on the paladins there, by luring them down to the surface."

She had done her reading after her earlier exchange with Lotor. Knowing one's enemy was key.

"Yes, I believe there might be." Lotor's tone was casual, betraying nothing as he brought up a screen, typing away until he found what he was looking for. "You wish to see if we can find the red paladin on it."

"It may shed some light." Acxa told him.

"Yes, you may be right about that." Lotor remarked. "The red paladin has not been seen since the defeat of my father- only his lion. It _does_ seem curious that rumors would not have spread by now, if the red paladin were truly Galra."

"He's got a point." Ezor said.

"They're likely hiding him because they don't want people to know he's Galra." Acxa observed. "Out of fear of losing the trust of this _Coalition_ they're trying to build."

"Knowing that one of their so-called _defenders of the universe_ was of the same race that has kept them under their feet for so long would likely create a bad impression, yes." Lotor observed, his tone detached, as if he were not speaking of his own people. "Ah, here we are."

"It would seem you were right to have me check the footage further, Acxa." Lotor said, shifting the screen so that they all could see it. "For it would seem I have discovered something _very_ interesting."

She recognized at once the red and white armor displayed on the screen- but its occupant took a moment longer to place. The one caught in the still image was not Galra, but rather was _human_. Pale skin, violet pupils, and nary a trace of a tail in sight.

It was the black color of the hair that struck her first- and the shape of the nose that struck her the second. Though she had only locked into a stalemate with him for a short time, she prided herself on her memory, dredging up the still fresh image of the red paladin she had witnessed just before.

"You seem to have realized something." Lotor observed.

She sensed he had come to the same conclusion himself, but was merely waiting for her to say it out loud.

"They possess the same features." She told him. "The Galra red paladin, and this more human one."

"So, what, are they like, the same person?" Ezor ventured. "Cause I'm pretty sure Galra don't shapeshift. Can humans shapeshift?"

"No." Lotor remarked. "Which means that whatever changed his appearance into what it is now, it must have been unnatural."

For the span of a moment, he said nothing further.

"Narti," he said finally, breaking the silence that had fallen over the bridge, "...why don't we check and see what Zarkon's witch has been up to lately."

It was a statement, Acxa realized- not a question.


End file.
